Electric Rain Offers Promo on Swift 3D Upgrade

Version 2.0 of 3D Flash utility due out in October
By Dave Nagel

Electric Rain says it will start shipping version 2.0 of its Swift 3D product Oct. 1. Swift 3D is a conversion utility for transforming 3D scenes into vector animations and outputting them in the Flash (SWF) format. Version 1.0 for the Macintosh was released last September at the Flashforward conference in New York. As part of an introductory promotion, users who purchase version 1.0 between now and Oct. 1 will receive a free upgrade to 2.0, which is actually a savings of $20 over the full retail price of the new version.

Details of Swift 3D 2.0's features are not yet public. The full price of the new release will be $159, with an electronic upgrade available for $79 for users of version 1.0. Boxed versions of the full release and upgrade will be available Oct. 15 for $20 more, plus shipping and handling.

In version 1.0, Swift 3D can import and work with EPS files, as well as 3ds max models, respecting materials, animations, lighting schemes and camera views. It can also be used to create models with basic primitives and type. It comes with preinstalled settings for drag and drop animations, as well as support for keyframing and tweening. Users can add up to 16 lights to a scene and animate them.

The software can export directly to the Flash format or consecutive EPS files for use with LiveMotion and Adobe Illustrator file format. It can also export outlines and shading, including flat shading, area/average shading and full polygon gradient shading.

We'll bring you more information on version 2.0 when the information is made public. For more, visit http://www.erain.com.